(Common) Reed Bunting

Male: Upperparts are brown with dark streaking. Black head and throat with white collar.

Female: Like the male but with brown head and throat and no white collar.

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The Reed Bunting is a bunting of similar size and appearance to a House
Sparrow, but the underparts are streaked and the outer tail feathers
are white. The legs and bill are dark brown.

The male Reed Bunting has a dark head and bib, which are black in the summer
and dull brown in winter. A broad white collar is evident in the summer as
is a thin white moustache (which can also be seen in winter, but is more
buff coloured).

The female can be confused with the female House Sparrow, which
has a shorter tail, and the female Yellowhammer, which has no moustache.
The female has a brown head, buff throat and buff-coloured lines above and
below the eye.

Juveniles are similar to the female but yellowier and more darkly
streaked.

In flight, the outer white tail feathers are noticeable.

Winter Male

Scientific Name

Emberiza schoeniclus

Length

15-16 cm (6-6½")

Wing Span

21-25 cm (8-10")

Weight

15-21 g (½-¾ oz)

Breeding Pairs

220000

Present

All Year

Status

Amber

Voice

The Reed Bunting's song is a rather dreary staccato chirrup that is often
written as "tweek, tweek, tititweek". Personally, I remember it as "tree,
tree, top of tree" because it is usually delivers its song from a perch at
the top of a tree, bush or reed.

Feeding

Reed Buntings are traditionally birds of reed beds and wetlands where
they feed on seeds and invertebrates during the breeding season, but they have started to visit gardens.

Nesting

The nest is a cup of grass and moss built on the ground but usually
among reeds or grasses in a wet or marshy place. Fine grasses and hair are used to line the cup.

The female incubates the eggs (20 mm by 15 mm), which are smooth, glossy and
pale lilac or olive with black scrawls or blotches. The young are fed by both
parents.

Breeding Starts

Clutches

Eggs

Incubation (days)

Fledge (days)

April-May

2-3

4-7

12-14

10-13

Movements

The Reed Bunting is an Amber List species because it is recovering from a severe population decline that started in the
1970's, which was a result of increased egg failures and poor survival
rates among fledglings.